


Betrayal

by xcacelas



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: AU, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Equalist Asami Sato, F/F, Korrasami - Freeform, Red Lotus Korra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-28
Updated: 2016-02-28
Packaged: 2018-05-23 15:47:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6121477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xcacelas/pseuds/xcacelas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a ploy to get the Equalists and Red Lotus against each other, Tarlock sets-up Korra and Asami to fight each other in a mission gone wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Betrayal

How could this have happened? How could she have failed?

Asami’s eye seared with the pressure of tears forming out of rage. She didn’t bother wiping them away when they slipped past her cheek, soaking through her red veil.

She was on a mission, assigned by Amon himself.

Asami had to succeed in this mission. She had too much at stake after she had failed her last. Her relationship with Korra was putting her at constant risk. Amon was too suspicious of her loyalty despite the number of years that she been by his side. He had threatened her that this would be her final chance as an Equalist. And Asami had a feeling that he would never let her walk away freely.

She was supposed to protect Hou-Ting, the current queen of the Earth Kingdom. Asami was ordered to guard the queen after she had made a deal with him. There were rumours that airbenders had been awakening in the Earth Kingdom and Amon was quick to work out his plan. He wanted to surround them before they even realized their true potential and to take away their bending. The queen had submitted to his actions with the condition that she be protected at all times after there had been a threat against her life.

But as she entered the palace, she found the queen laid across the floor, her body twisted in an awkward angle. Asami turned her over and the queen’s face was blue, her lips a luminous white and eyes bulging out of their sockets. She would’ve thought that the queen was strangled but there were no marks on her necks, nor any sign of bruising. Her hair was also damp and her make up was streaming down her face. What happened to her?

Asami had been warned that the Red Lotus had been targeting the Earth Queen. But she had a week start to get ahead and no one knew of her assignment, not even Korra. She hadn’t been able to speak to her in over two weeks after Korra had been assigned to travel with the Red Lotus.

Asami stood up, taking off her gloves, and wiping her sweaty hands against her thighs. It was getting too uncomfortable for her. She had to think, she couldn’t let her emotions get ahead of her.

Her ears perked up as she heard a crash in the distance. Was the murderer still near?

She put on her gloves and headed to the source by running out into the hallways. She sped past several corridors and rooms and stopped until she reached a courtyard. She hid behind a pillar to avoid being spotted and knelt down and peeked her head out to see what was going on.

A hooded figure was fighting ten royal guards, all of them struggling to keep up. There was another retreating when the guards became distracted by the attacks. Asami crept behind a pillar, getting closer with each step, trying to see who the fighter was. 

She felt her throat clog up as if she had swallowed a vial of flames when she started to recognize those movements.

Asami knew all of their moves. She recognized the way they curled their legs under their knees before they pounced and attacked a guard. She knew how they would always charge at people with their right shoulder hurled forwards, ready to slam in to people, knocking them off of their feet as they did just now.

It was Korra.

They had trained together countless of times, mostly hand-to-hand combat. Korra would sometimes use her bending on her so Asami could gain more experience. It’s what made her dangerous as an Equalist fighter who managed to corner off benders as Amon would approach them from behind. She knew Korra would always go easy on her as she watched how ruthless she was being with the guards right now.

They all lay down in the ground in a heaped pile and Korra started to retreat. Asami hesitated as Korra ran out of the courtyard and jumped up against a fence. Asami immediately got up and chased after her.

She climbed over the fence and followed Korra into a hallway.

“Korra,” she cried out.

Korra’s head snapped as she turned in Asami’s direction, immediately recognizing her voice.

She should’ve talked to her, asked her what had happened and why she was there. In the back of her mind she had thought to ask if Korra if she had murdered the Earth Queen but Asami was too scared to hear the answer.

So instead she charged her glove and aimed at Korra’s neck.

* * *

She dodged another one of Korra’s ignited punches which seared off wisps of her hair. Korra had started using her bending now that there were no guards around.

Asami jumped back into a somersault and tried charging up her glove again, which failed as it ran out of power.

Korra ran forward, tricking Asami into missing her attack after Korra pounded at the ground, creating an aftershock.

Asami fell onto her knees, crawling backwards when Korra aimed kicks at her face.

Asami managed to get up, dodging several more of Korra’s attacks.

Right in front of her, Korra raised her leg and Asami was too slow to deflect it. Her right knee hit Asami in the gut and she coughed harshly, falling forward on her face. Her nose hit against the pavement and she felt a crack and blood starting to trickle out.

Korra pinned her down and caught her wrists with one hand. Her knee dug into Asami’s back, forcing her to choke out a harsh cry.

Korra grabbed Asami’s veil and tore it off, revealing her tear-stained face.

“Stop moving,” Korra growled.

Why? So she could kill her? To get rid of a witness?

“Don’t touch me,” Asami hissed out. She felt Korra grip her shoulders, making it difficult for her to lift her head.

She pushed down against the Earth when Korra tried to turn her over.

“Please, tell me you didn’t kill her,” Asami cried out. “I don’t care if it’s a lie, just tell me it wasn’t you.”

Korra paused, her hand’s retracting from Asami’s shoulders which started to shake uncontrollably.

Asami’s elbows were pinned against the floor, and her head hid between them.

“Please,” Asami cried out again.

Because how could Asami live with the fact that she let Korra become what she feared of becoming herself? It would be all her fault. She was supposed to protect Korra not taint her.

Korra waited when Asami tried to control her breathing. She breathed in short uneven breaths, unable to stop a few whimpers and cries to come out.

Slowly, she let Korra pick her up as she sat down on the floor. She let Korra’s arms curl around her, enveloping her within her embrace.

Korra’s hold on her tightened, her arms lowering to press her chest against hers. “It wasn’t me.”

Asami shivered as Korra started rubbing her back. She didn’t dare look up at her, frightened to see what her face would reveal. _What if she’s lying? What if she did do it?_

She felt Korra’s fingers lift up her chin, forcing her to look up into her face. She bit her lips to stop them from trembling and looked at Korra’s face through blurry tears.

She looked so beaten. One of her eyes was swollen shut with purple bruising around the area. Who did that to her? There were dark shadows under her eyes as if she hadn’t slept in days. A deep frown etched into her skin and ragged lines ran across her forehead.

“I couldn’t do it,” Korra said.

* * *

Asami used to think that her place belonged with the Equalists, the only family to ever welcome her for who she is.

But they were not the family she wanted. They had left her for dead several times only for her to come crawling back in pain and contempt. She never left because was too scared to be abandoned by the only place she felt familiar in. Still, she hated the idea of becoming a villain, being part of the wrong side when she became too highly aware of the innocent lives they were destroying.

When she met Korra, her intentions were to investigate on the rumours of a new waterbender residing in Republic City. At first, she had no idea she was tracking the Avatar but it became evident after Korra had joined the Fire Ferrets and her talents had been revealed. It was obvious that she was skilled as the Avatar, despite the fact that struggled to airbend.

Yet something stopped Asami from delivering this information to Amon. Perhaps it was the way that she was curious to how Korra was so desperate to fit in within Republic City. How much effort she put in to become part of the society she was introduced to yet struggling to stand out as the Avatar. She seemed just as lost as her.

Korra had changed her. No, that wasn’t true. She made her realize who she was and where her morals truly lied. Their relationship, which had a rocky start, had been a secret for obvious reason. The Equalists were targeting her and Asami foiled every plan that attempted to steal away Korra’s bending. She supported Korra after she joined the Red Lotus as part of an undercover mission, to gain more insight on their attacks against the spirit world. Asami figured that the only way for her to keep protect Korra was to continue working for the Equalists.

* * *

Korra had struggled within the Red Lotus. She hated herself for hurting others, whether they were innocent or not and it pained her to continue with the charade. No matter how much she detested the queen, murder was not something she could come to terms with, and it was the worst moment of her life when the Red Lotus demanded for her to complete this task.

She had walked into the throne room, not knowing if she would even have the strength to proceed with the act and instead found Tarrlok drowning the helpless queen in an orb of water.

She was too shocked to move, whether to stop him or help him, she didn’t know. After the queen died, he pushed past her and she chased after him. The guards had found the queen’s body and immediately attempted to arrest Korra and Tarrlok. Tarrlok had escaped and Korra was left vulnerable in the guard’s attacks.

He had planned this, she thought. To frame her for the murder she was supposed to commit. And he had somehow managed to pull Asami into the mix.

Did he know about their relationship? It didn’t matter for he knew that Korra had an Equalist fighter as an ally. And after discovering that she had snuck into the Red Lotus group under a false identity, he decided to get them to target each other by murdering the Earth Queen.

* * *

Asami sighed, ignoring how numb her arm felt under her, and entwined her fingers within Korra’s hands which were pressed against her stomach.

Korra was still sleeping and Asami could feel her chest rising with each breath as her breasts were pressed against her bare back.

Korra had been so careful in concealing Asami, hiding her from the public as they escaped. Even with her injuries, she put Asami’s comfort before her own, occasionally carrying her if she couldn’t walk or run anymore. It was her own fault, she had said, she had taken out all her anger on Asami when she failed to kill to queen and found her killed by someone else instead. She was so gentle that Asami had wondered how she could have ever thought that Korra would be capable of committing murder.

But what were they going to do now? They were both wanted. The Red Lotus and the Equalist demanded for their lives and Republic City had casted them out as traitors.

The treacherous Avatar and the rejected Equalist fighter.

They would have to hide. They would have to run.

But for now it didn’t matter.

No, as long as they were together, they would be fine.


End file.
